Lonely Kids, Screens and the Power of Secure Attachment

Shrinking It Down: Mental Health Made Simple · Oct 29, 2026 · 39m

Gen Z now reports higher rates of loneliness than any other generation, and parents are more worried than ever about social media. So what actually protects young people: screen time limits, phone-free schools, or something else? The answer may be one we’ve known about for decades: secure attachment, and its power to protect kids against loneliness.

In this episode, child and adolescent psychiatrists Gene Beresin, MD, MA, and Khadijah Booth Watkins, MD, MPH, make the case for a secure, trusting bond between a child and the adults who raise them.

Gene and Khadijah explain what secure…